Martin Freeman first played Everett Ross in Captain America: Civil War and later reprised the role in Black Panther. There, he struck up something of a bond with T'Challa and Shuri, so it's not a huge surprise that the character will return for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Recently, Freeman appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden, confirming that he's met with Ryan Coogler and been made privy to the direction he plans to take the sequel in. However, it sounds like he was somewhat surprised by what the filmmaker has in mind.
"I had a Zoom call with Ryan Coogler, the director and co-writer about seven or eight weeks ago, I suppose. He sort of meticulously took me through all of my character's beats in the film. He took me through the film, but incorporating my character's beats. And some of it was really very odd," Freeman admitted.
"And I think [Coogler] could see from the reaction on my face to some of the things he was saying, my face must have been going [shocked face] like that, because he kept sort of stopping, and he kept going, 'Stay with me, but this is going to work,'" the actor continued. "People are in for, I think, a real treat. I mean we've not done it yet, who knows, we might make it awful. But, I'm hoping we won't, I'm hoping people are going to be in for a treat."
With no T'Challa, the Black Panther sequel is bound to be a very different movie, and Freeman shared his hopes that it will successfully pay tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman.
"Obviously, the hope is we do the first film justice and we do Chadwick's legacy on it justice and make, hopefully, another good film."
Marvel Studios hasn't shared any details about who will take over the Black Panther mantle in T'Challa's absence. However, Shuri, Erik Killmonger, M'Baku, and Kasper Cole remain the most popular possibilities, with rumours pointing to Bridgerton's Regé-Jean Page playing the latter.
Check out the full interview below: